After months of failed negotiations between Orr and Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties concerning the future of Detroit’s water system, separate federal filings in the past few weeks have stated the same thing: Talks to form the water authority were dead.

Oakland County Deputy Executive Bob Daddow said that the set of counties never left the table, but the city’s representatives decided instead to seek out private vendors when Oakland officials asked for more information.

He’s worried about drastically rising water rates paying for Detroit’s services and debts, he said — a fear Executive L. Brooks Patterson shares.

Daddow added that a memo received Wednesday from South Carolina-based Foster Group, the rate consultant for the DWSD, detailed that the four percent projected increases for Detroit are not enough, and could require almost 11 percent in increased rates for Detroit’s water customers.

“But when you compare what (DWSD) needs in terms of revenue to what it actually collected from the audited financial statements in 2013, the actual numbers are closer to 27 percent increases for the water and 22 percent increases for the sewer over a two-year time frame in addition to the two four-percent increases for 2013 and 2014,” Daddow said.